The OK Fiji Pro
Feel free to jot thoughts, tips, and conspiracy theories about judging below. The thread will run for the duration of the contest and we'll keep it visible on the front page for easy access.
Easy as old bald one smelly slater will be underscored by at least 1 point per wave
and his opponent will be over scored at least 1 point per wave.
SIMPLY
Here is a bit of rainy day rumination .
Isaac Newton said " If I can see further , it is because I am standing on the shoulders of giants ."
So with the wizards of modern surfing ready to ( hopefully ) thread their way through the cobalt blue tunnels of the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to further what's considered possible on a surfboard , I'm going to throw out a few names and my personal opinion of contributing roots to their original styles.
Adriano Desousca - Trent Munroe
John John Florence - Jamie O' Brien
Owen Wright - Michael Rommelse
Bede Durbidge - Bryce Ellis
Michelle Bourez - Johnny Boy Gomes
Fredrico Morais - Tiago Pirez
Wiggoly Dantas - Bobby Martinez
Seabass - Dustin Barca
Gabriel Medina - Occy : for that rudder back Arm on his backhand if nothing else.
Jadson Andre - Cory Lopez
Stuart Kennedy - Danny Wills
Ya go Dora - Rob Machado
Ethan Ewing - Andy Irons
Mick Fanning - Danny Wills / Taylor Knox / Jay Phillips
Ciao Ibelli - Fabio Gouveia
Jeremy Flores - Richie Lovett
Kolohe Andino - Taj Burrow
Really looking forward to seeing Owen surf...pre-injury he was invincible here...I think this might be the best barometer of his recovery.
Some astute observations there Blowin and even though I'm in the mood for an argument I cant find any fault amongst 'em.
Anyone know where Sheepdog's gone?
Sheepdog mentioned awhile back that his partner wasn't too well, been thinking about that lately and hoping for the best.
I was only thinking about Sheepy yesterday ....weird.
Hope it's all good mate !
Stu - I'm not actually up for a debate with even the faux passion I can usually mimic.
I'll go have a beer and see if I can work up any kind of non political fervour.
Unless you feel like making it political, then we'll have to take it outside.......to another thread.
I was going to put Connor Coffin - Tom Curren !
Some crew just develop their own style. Such as Wilko and Toledo . Been getting any waves Zen ?
PS. Sorry about failing to come up with an argument , Stu.
A beer became a little scoob and a rewatching of Morning of the Earth after a decade or so.
Chillums in the Ulu cave as I type. Boys are loving it.
Thas cool. Got an arvo backyard fire going with the young fellas, no surf talk but some intense marshamallow toasting going down.
John John florence is more like a modern day Curren to me, those stylish carves and unique approach to a wave and the tube sense.
Wiko reminds me of a poor mans Occy.
Seabass = Andy more so than Barca i think.
Kolohe = Andy x Fanning
JJF = JOB x Bruce
Interesting no one has said anyone is influenced/molded by Kelly. Generally considered the GOAT and been around since the early 90s.
Flore's forehand hack probably has as much to do with the Slater " Pizza toss" as Richie Lovett ' s forehand viscousness .
Women's layday. Forecast dosn't look too flash. Let's revisit the Big O's Perfect 10's from two years back and, like GRG said, wonder about his recovery:
Wow, it's pretty small, maybe 2-3ft on the bigger sets with short rides on offer. Womens Round 1 is running.
Lucky that the ad beak has a title stating it's the 2017 OK women's pro.
Going off the synth pop music I was assuming I was watching the 1983 edition of the same event.
Surf might not be all time for Cloudbreak , but I'd sure love to be out in boardies amongst that gin clear water and those beltable running lefts.
Surfing over reef is the best.
Jeez the first heat this AM was a shocker, the girls were sitting way too far up the reef and kept getting caught behind the peak. Looks like they've sorted their positions now but it's still just an average 3ft at Cloudbreak.. gonna be hard to get any inspiring footage from yesterday or today I reckon.
The Tyler/Sage heat was a looooong 30 minutes that's for sure.
Go Sally!
I hope I'm not being out of order here but do you think Rosie has a bit of a moisty for Ronnie? Or vice versa?
As an utterly heterosexual man , I can honestly say that Ronnie' s smooth looks , voice and charm would put undoubtedly put Rosie into the vast pool of women that have fallen under his spell.
Christ, I'd better put the wife beater on and go change a car tyre just to reassure myself of my staunch dedication to manliness after that comment.
Semis 1 and 2 done.. and they've called it off for the day due to dwindling surf conditions.
They're gonna try and run the Final tomorrow. Wonder how much swell will be left? May not be much at all.
Ha! Just got the WSL press release. Under the headline, it says (bullet point #1):
"FINAL SHOWDOWN WILL DETERMINE EVENT WINNER "
How incredibly observant.
So the window start tomorrow (Sunday)
Hows the forecast looking now?
Before suffering the equivalent of getting an AVO from the WSL , I would have said Toledo had a fair shot. After seeing the first round though I,d have to say Wilko looks hungry
Any thoughts on Bourez's arabesque tube stall?
Or was it a dog cocking a leg but kinda in reverse??
With his left hand in the face of the wave it's pretty impressive.
I thought Bourez wave was a 10. The grace of a ballerina, the innovation and the high end of the critical part of the wave should have earnt that
Fingers crossed that competition runs today.
It's freezing cold here and it'd be nice to tuck up and while away a few hours.
As I said in the other thread last week, WSL must be spewing. They can't jag a trick. How's the swell forecast for the day AFTER the waiting period ends!!!!
What a dog's breakfast. Better viewing on our Greenmount surfcam.
It's a great example that world class waves don't fire all the time. This is certainly the best time of the year for Fiji, but we've had a couple of consecutive weeks of average waves indeed. Ain't no way to get around this without extending the waiting period (which is an impossibility on many levels).
However, an Indonesia stop on the tour would not encounter as much of a risk in this regard. It's pretty rare for an extended run of poor surf through the winter months - sure, it can get small - but surf quality is much higher.
Women's starts today, men's next Sunday (the 4th June). Craig has th early forecast here:
https://www.swellnet.com/news/swellnet-analysis/2017/05/26/outerknown-fiji-pro-early-forecast